Suppression of freedom of expression and protest

Although freedom of expression and freedom of protest are fundamental rights enshrined in Israeli and international law, in recent years attempts to restrict the space for protest against the occupation and against government policies have intensified.

Curtailing freedom of expression and protest narrows the civic space and enables continued human rights violations in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and inside Israel, without scrutiny or constraints. Even in times of emergency or war, the State may not revoke or restrict these rights disproportionately or without justification, since it is precisely during such times that they become critically important as tools for public oversight of government policy and the use of military force.

Demonstrations and protests

Following petitions filed over the past two years in dozens of cases in which the police or local authorities withheld permits for demonstrations against the wars in Gaza and Iran, the High Court of Justice clarified that the right to protest applies even during times of war. Nevertheless, on the ground, it is clear that police actions against demonstrations have a chilling effect.

The police have stepped up action against anti-government activists since the war with Iran began in late February 2026. Selective and at times violent dispersals of demonstrations and protest vigils and the failure to protect peaceful protesters (Hebrew) from assault and harassment by right-wing activists effectively serve as tools of intimidation and deterrence against participation in lawful protest activities.

Recently, there have also been documented cases in which business licensing regulations were used as a tool to restrict protests or political events critical of government and military actions, or in support of Palestinian rights.

Incidents of full or partial strip searches of protestors without cause have also increased over the past year. Physical searches used as a tool for humiliating and degrading women and men are an abuse of police authority, a major violation of the rights to human dignity and privacy, and to freedom of expression and protest, and may amount to sexual harassment. As set out in repeated letters sent by ACRI to the Israel Police Commissioner, the Legal Adviser to the Israel Police and the Attorney General, the law gives the police the power to carry out a full strip search in rare instances, when there are reasonable grounds to suspect that evidence is concealed on a suspect’s body. The police certainly do not have the power to carry out these searches on protesters. Under police procedures, even a partial strip search may be conducted only after taking into account considerations such as the nature of the offense, its severity, and the danger it poses. When protesters are detained or arrested solely because they demonstrated, there are clear and reasonable concerns that the purpose of the search is deterrence, degradation, and humiliation.

Photographing protesters is another measure that the police have employed in recent years to deter demonstrators. Officers conspicuously film protesters on their personal devices, often bringing the device close to people’s faces, share the images among themselves via messaging apps, and sometimes use the images to identify, detain, arrest, or remove protesters without legal cause. This is an unjustified practice that disproportionately violates personal space, privacy, and, of course, the right to protest. Aside from the direct harm to the individuals being photographed, this conduct also has a chilling and intimidating effect on the public at large.

Following a petition ACRI filed on this matter, in November 2025, the police presented a new procedure for photographing protesters. However, the procedure is flawed and fails to fully protect protesters’ rights. ACRI filed an amended petition in February 2026.

Clampdown on free speech

In November 2025, the Knesset Constitution Committee approved the Bill to amend Section 24 of the Counter-Terrorism Law – Incitement to terrorism (Hebrew) for second and third readings. The bill, which now awaits a plenum vote and could pass in the coming Knesset session, combines several private member bills submitted in 2023 and 2024 by MKs Limor Sonn Har Melech and Yitzhak Kroizer of Otzma Yehudit, Eliyahu Revivo of Likud and Tzvi Sukkot of Religious Zionism. It seeks to expand criminal liability for speech and relax the rules for investigation and criminal action. The bill eliminates the requirement to seek approval from the State Attorney’s Office before launching investigations into suspected incitement to terrorism. The requirement currently applies to all speech offenses as a way to safeguard the balance between freedom of expression and the prohibition on incitement to terrorism or racism.

Under the bill, a police officer with the rank of brigadier general would be authorized to approve investigations into suspected incitement to terrorism. The press reported that officials inside the police opposed this change (Hebrew), expressing concerns over the politicization of the process. The bill further seeks to lower the probable test for proving a statement could actually lead to the commission of an act of terrorism. This change shifts the focus of the offense from the probability that the statement in question would actually lead to an act of terrorism to the content of the statement itself, even though a statement, however extreme, is not prohibited by law so long as it does not incite a concrete act.

If the bill passes, the State Attorney’s Office, whose role is to strike a balance between preventing unlawful incitement and protecting freedom of expression, will lose the authority currently available to it, potentially leading to a surge in arrests and speech suppression. A further concern is that the revised wording will deepen the selective enforcement against Arab citizens who are already almost exclusively targeted by the Counter-Terrorism Law.

As the bill is being promoted, Minister of National Security Ben Gvir is working to transfer incitement investigations to an officer handpicked by him. In January 2026, the media reported that Minister Ben Gvir appointed an officer responsible for incitement investigations (Hebrew), outside the police investigations division, apparently without proper staff work. The position itself lacks defined powers, and in March 2026 the media reported that the head of the police investigations division was denying this officer access to police information systems (Hebrew). However, in the same month it was also reported that the officer had approached police officers directly to request information on “names that concern them” (Hebrew). An official response (Hebrew) received after ACRI sent a letter and before it took legal action, stated the Police Commissioner had informed the Attorney General that he was looking into the issue and that, until his review was complete, the work of the new unit and the officer assigned to it had been suspended. The response stated that once the review was completed the Attorney General would respond to the arguments raised in the petition.

Suppression of speech in academic institutions

In the spirit of the times, universities and colleges across the country have, to varying degrees, adopted a policy of silencing. Toward the end of 2025, Tel Aviv University issued new directives that significantly restrict the ability to hold demonstrations, public events, or cultural events on campus. The directives ban on-campus protests, require police approval for every cultural event, add significant restrictions on setting up booths, and forbid the distribution of flyers. Minister of Education Yoav Kish continues to intimidate (Hebrew) higher education institutions, and under his leadership the government is promoting bills aimed at silencing academic institutions (Hebrew) and controlling their funding (Hebrew).

Targeting foreign media in law and practice

Placing restrictions on journalists or banning media reporting undermines freedom of the press and the public’s right to know. Ever since the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023, and including the period since the ceasefire agreement entered into force in October 2025, Israel has denied journalists free and independent access to the Gaza Strip. A petition against this ban, filed by the Foreign Press Association, is still pending. Additionally, journalists critical of Israeli policy in general and in the occupied territories in particular have seen their visas revoked.

Meanwhile, the police continue to restrict the work of foreign journalists. In the winter of 2025–2026, treatment of journalists in the al-Aqsa/Temple Mount area deteriorated further, as the Israel Police made extensive and unlawful use of its power to bar the general public from the site to deny journalists access to the compound.

In April 2024, under the cover of the war in Gaza, the Knesset passed the Law for Preventing a Foreign Broadcasting Organization from Harming State Security (Temporary Order - Iron Swords) - 2024, commonly known as the Al Jazeera Law. Passed as a temporary law, it authorizes the Minister of Communications, with the approval of the Prime Minister, the Cabinet, or the Ministerial Committee on National Security, to impose sanctions on foreign media outlets broadcasting from Israel, including blocking broadcasts via Israeli providers, restricting access to the channel’s website, closing the channel’s offices in Israel, and seizing devices used by the channel to transmit content, including mobile phones. The temporary order expired in October 2025, but in December of that year, the Knesset passed the Law for Preventing a Foreign Broadcasting Organization from Harming State Security (Temporary Order) - 2025 (Hebrew), which bears a striking resemblance to the expired law. The new law, which is valid for two years, grants the minister unprecedented powers to order social networks to stop broadcasting a media channel whose content is deemed to pose a substantial threat to national security, as well as to interfere with the channel’s satellite broadcasts. About a month after the new law was passed, restrictions were imposed on Al Jazeera.

In March 2026, under cover of the war with Iran, two foreign journalists, CNN correspondents, were arrested after reporting from the Kirya area [Israel’s military headquarters]. In addition, the police used the new law to shut down broadcasts by AP, as Al Jazeera subscribes to the agency’s feed. However, AP reporters were allowed to resume broadcasting shortly thereafter.